


Conflicting Interests

by pondghost



Category: Avengers Academy (Video Game), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: BAMF Bucky Barnes, BAMF Tony Stark, Bucky Barnes Feels, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Heartbreak, Hostage Situations, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapped Tony Stark, M/M, Multi, Pining Bucky Barnes, Pining Tony Stark, Protective Steve Rogers, Slow Burn, Tony Stark Has Daddy Issues, Tony Stark's Gauntlet is a Prosthetic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-16
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-04-01 05:26:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13991418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pondghost/pseuds/pondghost
Summary: Bucky wasn't on Tony's good side, but that wouldn't stop him from being sweet on the genius. And unfortunately, that crush doesn't stop anyone else from making a move either. Or from getting kidnapped. All he wanted was to finish a card game, how the hell was this his life?AKA the MCU/Avengers Academy mashup literally no one asked for.





	1. move in day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony and Rhodey move in together and figure out they might not be fans of the neighbors.

One step up.

_It’s been a year, why can’t you get over this? It’s done, so why can you still feel your lungs burning? Why do you still like you're drowning? Why do you still hear their screams?_

Two steps up.

_Why do you still feel blood on your hands? Why do you still see them when you close your eyes?_

Three steps up.

_Why does this feel like a dream? That you’ll wake up and still be in that cave. Still there. Still cold. Still hurt. Still scared. Still dead. Still lost._

Round the corner.

_Why can’t you be alone? Why are you here?_

Unlock the door--

_I’m fine, so why am I not?_

 

“--Actually, now that we’re living together, we need to set up some ground rules, specifically about the coffee maker.” Right! Rhodey. Rhodey was there, they were walking up the stairwell. Tony and he were moving into their dorm room, each carrying their own body-weight in boxes and it was a miracle that the two had not fallen up the steps yet. Something had been wrong with the elevator, but Tony was too busy in his thoughts to pay attention. The day itself had been a blur, the reality of being at _Avenger’s-fucking-Academy_ finally hitting him, it was truly a weird transition because this time last year he had been trapped in a cave, his capturers demanding he make what he’d grown to hate most in the world. Weapons of war, weapons to kill, weapons to hurt -- Right. _Rhodey_. “Because I don’t want to come back from class one day and find our baby in pieces.”

“You think I’d take apart our first child and the most important thing in our room?” Tony shot back, a near genuine smile gracing his lips as his thoughts slipped away. Rhodey was his best friend -- he couldn’t remember a time that he hadn’t been.

James Rhodes Sr. was the other’s father, a business associate from the military who often found himself meeting with Howard, and it was because of this that the two met at an early age. Tony recalled being three when he first met Rhodey and being three years his younger -- he thought the world of him. These were his favorite memories, running through the gardens together (avoiding his mother’s flowers at all costs,) convincing him that the tooth fairy was a hoax, Jarvis slipping them candies in secret as Howard refused to let his kid have such delicacies. He remembered Rhodey’s family taking him to the movies for the first time, crying on his friend’s shoulder when they watched Lilo and Stitch together in the theater. They’d gone to get slushies after the film, the drink had been the sweetest thing Tony had ever tasted, and he’d still be convinced of that. Rhodey’s been there his whole life, but it was during the past year that they’d grown somewhat apart, there was so much he didn’t know. He didn’t know how Tony visited Jarvis’ grave more than his own father’s or how he left a bouquet of Oleanders on his mother’s tombstone nearly every week -- how he used to personally tend to her garden because she loved it so dearly. He didn’t know Tony was sober, too afraid of what would happen if he wasn’t in his right state of mind. Hell, the elder hadn’t even known about Iron Man until the whole Stane fiasco. But they’d have the next few months to catch up, and Tony’s sure to never let him go again.

“Absolutely! I’ve seen you desperate before, man. Also, you drunk tinker!” He scoffed out, holding the stairwell door for the younger as he wedged himself through. “Like, you couldn’t be a happy drunk or something less weird?”

Tony simply glared at the other, feet carrying him backward, “I never half-ass anything, I’m a go big or go home type o’ person. And honestly, I’d trash DUM-E before ruining that,” he gestured to the appliance currently being cradled like an infant by his friend, “Not to mention, I’m pretty sure I’m getting the unlimited-tinker-treatment on account of Shield groveling for us to be here to fix everyone’s shit.”

Rhodey couldn’t help but raise a brow.

“Okay, groveled for _me_ to be here to fix their shit and you, because you’re the most talented pilot ever and could kill a man by staring at him? Oh, and also on account that the last time we were separated we--”

The pilot held up a hand to quiet his roommate, swiping a keycard into their door (coffee maker still protectively held in his arm,) “no. We don’t talk about … _**that**_ out loud.”

“That’s honestly fair,” with the room sliding open, the duo stepped inside. A burst of cool air rushing to meet them as the door shut onto the privacy of their new home. “Holy shit. Rhodey, I can’t believe we’re here!”

“You just realized where we are?”

“Something like that, it just started feeling real, it didn’t before, but now we’re standing here. In our room! _Our room!_ It’s just our’s … that’s so awesome.”

That might have been the first time Tony had expressed actively wanting to be there and Rhodey really couldn’t help but break into a grin before ungracefully dropping their prized possession onto a shared table. He had that glazed over doting-big-brother look on his face, “Yeah. This is good for us. For you, you deserve to be here, Tony ... you know that, right?” There was a slight hesitation in his voice, he already knew the answer.

“Maybe, guess we’ll find out.” A shrug. The younger had already started to the door to fetch the excessive amount of junk they still had to bring up, “of course, they might just flat out regret their decision after I blow up the lab for the first time. Then again, Reed is here and if they can tolerate that mess, they can sure as hell tolerate me.”

“You and Richards really need to work your shit out.”

“He started it!”

“I don’t even know what ** _it_ ** is!”

“And hopefully you never will!” Tony yelled before darting back out of the room, Rhodey quickly on his heels, “god, the first thing I’m doing is fixing that elevator. I will not walk up the stairs everyday like some heathen! I get that maybe 60 percent of the school can fly, but I’m not here for that and it’s unfair.”

“Technically. You can fly.”

“Yeah ... but, shut up.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Bucky Barnes.

Imagine waking up after nearly twenty years of Hydra control and being told your name is _Bucky._

Well, the teen supposed he had some vague idea about his identity when his mind snapped back after his escape. Things really started to click once he saw his brother, well -- Steve, again. It had been a quick year full of lots of therapy, stress, 3 am gym visits, gas station food and tracking down his family. Mostly therapy though. Bucky didn’t exactly like talking about his time as Hydra’s attack dog during his sessions, but he could go on forever about how his younger-but-physically-older sisters constantly doted on him because he was the youngest sibling now. Life was weird.

After about a year of physicals, psychological examinations, and the best of what Shield had to offer, James Barnes was declared as fit as he’ll ever be to reintegrate himself back into society. They (and Steve) had also not-so-subtly been hinting that he look into Avenger’s Academy, and some part of him had felt like he’d owe it to them to join. He knew he couldn’t erase all the bad he’d done by doing favors, but he could sure as hell try.

And that was why the two former soldiers were standing in a cramped room, already set up with whatever little they had to bring with them to the school. Bucky’s side was already a mess despite it being the first day, his definition of putting clothes away was to just throw them haphazardly on his bed and there was some kind of motor engine on the desk that he’d sent Steve a hefty glare at for trying to move onto to the floor earlier. Steve, or Princess Perfect, as Bucky had mentally dubbed him, had a very different approach. His side was completely and utterly perfect, a made bed, a single photo of his mother and his shield leaning casually against his dresser like it wasn’t one of the most lethal and expensive things out there. Steve was hanging up some kind of calendar covered in kittens as the ex-assassin surveyed the scene out the window. There were a few groups of people, but it mostly just seemed to be other first years running around like maniacs with their piles of boxes, some kids using their enhanced abilities to carry everything and some using magic to levitate their possessions -- he made a particular note of the scrawny brunette kid lugging a giant robot on a small wagon. They were on the third floor, and he took in the ledges outside of all the descending windows, they’d be good for climbing if needed, there was also an empty grass field stretching in front which left him wondering if maybe Steve had requested the room. It was at the end of the corridor and on the opposite end of the elevator, there was an obvious getaway path there for him and the only door next to their's was the one across from it. Tactically, it was just a good space.

“Well, what do you think?” Steve questioned, enthusiastically gesturing to the whole dorm, Bucky suspected he was honestly proud of his half-assed side of the room. In fact, he’s sure he could spit gum onto some paper, call it art and Steve would still be proud.

“I think I wanna get food and sleep.”

“You only ever want to do those things.”

“Yeah, you gotta point?”

“It’s four in the afternoon!”

“Way too early to be this productive,”

" _Awh_ \-- come’n, Buck! We still need to go find Natasha, I wanna say hi and see if she can help me find Tony before it gets late.”

Now that got his attention.

“Tony Stark?” He’d been pretty sure Steve had mentioned the name once or a hundred times to him before. He was Howard’s kid and apparently a big shot now according to the news. Bucky couldn’t say he knew a whole lot about the guy though, focusing on the media hadn’t been his main priority since getting his brain back.

“Yeah, I guess after,” _you died_ , “everything, Howard and I talked a bit more. I went over to his house a lotta times when I was around nineteen, y’know? I just remember him being so small, Howard wanted me to talk to him, thought I’d be a good influence or something? We barely spoke though, he had this friend who threatened to beat me up if I hurt him. It was . . . adorable and scary.” And of course, he was smiling, the past made him smile more than the present. Bucky wanted to fix that.

“And you think it’s weird he’s almost our age now?” A simple shrug.

“A little, I guess. Is it weird I feel kinda bad? Howard wanted me to be there for his kid and I--”

“Flew a plane straight into the ocean?”

“Yeah. Flew a plane straight into the ocean.”

“Dumbass.”

“Language.” Steve’s smile fought its way back.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

It was nearly eleven that night when Tony finished setting up his lab, the majority of the day had been spent fiddling with his 3D interface program and trying to explain to DUM-E that he needed to stay in there because _‘you are so not fitting in the dorm room!’_ The robot then proceeded to pick up its creator by the back of the shirt, refusing to put him down until Tony threatened to send him back to the manor by himself.

 

Brown eyes squinted as he made his way to the shared dorm, he’d dubbed the hall lights too ugly and fluorescent for his tired gaze and simply fumbled his way back. Somewhere along the way, he did register a door opening, but the connection that someone was exiting was never made and in a split second a larger body had barreled itself into the genius.

Someone screamed.

It was probably him.

Okay, he was super awake now.

He forced his vision back to be met with a super soldier having a one-way staring contest with him. Steve Rogers, he had recognized the face in a second, his father practically had a shrine dedicated to the guy. And now here he was, under him. How odd.

And then he noticed the other’s hand unknowingly pressing on the spot next to the arc reactor and that was enough to get him to take action. “Get the fuck off me!” Tony brought up a knee to Steve's stomach, the action along with his sudden shouting proved to be effective as he scrambled back and a second later two doors opened nearly simultaneously, his and the one across from it. Bucky had practically ripped the door off its hinges, a gun in hand with a stature that opposed the look he was sporting in his soft pajama pants. Parallel from him, Rhodey had similarly ran out with a gun (where did he get that) in hand, a murderous expression that screamed just to try something stupid.

“Uh, hey?” Steve piped up, pulling himself onto his knees as he took in the scene. God, he really hoped his roommate and their apparent neighbor didn’t start duking it out in the hall, it wasn’t even the first day of school yet! He looked over to the smaller brunette who was already on his feet, a hand pressed to the center of his chest and another reaching for his roommate's shoulder in a plea not to shoot.

Tony had a habit of only using one hand, he always kept his left one tucked away in the pocket of his sweatshirts, but he couldn’t stop shielding magnet in his chest. He really didn’t like people touching it -- and he was sure Barnes was staring at the red metallic fingers peeking out from his sleeves. The engineer glared and James turned back to Steve who stood up to full height and pushed his roommates gun down. 

“Well, this has been real fun.” Rhodey finally broke the silence again. “But I would appreciate not being woken up and thinking my little brother is being murdered outside my door!” A click signaled the safety was back on and the weapon was shoved into his back pockets, he then pulled Tony into his side in some semblance of a protective hug which had him trying not to smile at.

He caught Barnes trying to steal a look at his hand again, Tony quickly shoved both of them into his sweatshirt’s pocket.

“I'm real sorry,” Steve butt in, “I think it’s late and we’re all just kinda stressed from move-in day and--” his sudden pause caught everyone off guard and what came out of his mouth next, even more so. “Your Tony’s friend that threatened to beat me up!”

“When did you threaten Captain America!”

“Tony, I was like seven -- I didn’t think he’d remember or that I’d end up living within ten feet of the guy!”

“Guys--” Bucky was silenced by the duo across from them who were now immersed in a conversation that somehow consisted solely of random noises and flippant gestures.

Both sides ceased as Tony removed himself from his friend, pulling up his hood and turning away, “listen, sorry I made a mess or whatever, just go back to bed kiddos, I’m going out.”

“Tony--” it was without pause that his friend hurried up to him, “let’s just go back and see how many memes I can send Pepper before she breaks.” 

“I’m fine, I think I just wanna go ... check on DUM-E.” Yeah. That was it. He must have done something truly incredible in a past life to deserve Rhodey as a friend, he understood Tony so much -- sometimes too much. But, he knew when Tony really wanted to be alone, knew when to back off and when backing off was the wrong choice. It was lucky that tonight he trusted Tony to go off on his own. The teen meant it when he said he was going back to the lab, it was where he’d already felt the most comfortable. It’s where JARVIS’ mainframe was, his projects, it was familiar. It was one of the only familiar things in a sea full of new and strange. After getting through the doors, the lights flickered to life as DUM-E excitedly rolled to meet the engineer, enthusiastic as a robot could be.

Tony simply stared at him, warmth filling his heart because when he saw his bot, he didn’t see just the exterior parts. He saw Jarvis handing him what tools he needed, he saw his mother encouraging him when he got stuck on the coding, he saw Ana telling him to sleep and that his project would be there in the morning. Sometimes he saw his father commenting the thing was garbage. But he looked past that. He saw the love, he saw the hard work, the passion, the sleepless nights and hours spent holed up in the basement just to finish his creation. He saw a twelve-year-old kid with nothing better to do and an urgent need to make to prove he could do something for himself.

And he did. Fuck you, Howard.

Tony ripped off his sweater, exposing the blue light of the arc reactor through his shirt and the bright metal on his arm where flesh should have been.

_How much of you is human?_

The teen patted his bot who beeped in return with near affection. “This is it, Dum. We’re here and I’m gonna learn to be a hero or whatever.” _Breathe._ “This is such a bad idea, they only wanted me because I came with the suit.”

DUM-E wheeled back a bit, his arm resting on Tony’s lap as he took a seat and pulled up some blueprints. “They’re probably gonna be pissed when they see I don’t even have a functioning one again,” he had Obadiah Stane to thank for that, their final encounter had left him with yet another murder on his hands and a broken Iron Man armor which he hadn’t repaired due to the whirlwind that was Shield. “They just wanted that dumbass suit and all they got was the dumbass inside of it!” A wave of his arm and all the holograms vanished in a flash of light, Tony standing up from his chair as a new circle of images danced around his frame.

Why would Shield want him?

“JARVIS,” how much time do I have before class?

“About eight hours, sir. Shall I pull up the schematics for Project ICSB?”

“You know me too well, buddy.”

A screwdriver twirled between metallic fingertips as he read over his notes, thoughts anywhere from Rhodey threatening the boys next door to how to upgrade his lab’s security racing through his mind. There had been no evidence of it, but Tony highly suspected that the shallow end of this school offered him a spot just for the armor. Maybe they thought he’d build them an army of Iron Mans. But that would never happen.

There was one Iron Man because there was one Tony Stark.

The world could take away his family, his friends, his arm, his trust.

But, it could never take Iron Man, it’s who he was -- who he will always be.

It’s his soul, his heart, every part of him is Iron Man.

And fuck anyone who would think differently.


	2. welcome to hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tony's first class goes well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have now introduced the majority of the characters! next chapter we get bucky and move on from the intro phase. sorry if the perspective in any of my stories is a bit weird, i've never written fiction before and i'm working on it

The next morning could have been described as hell, Tony recalled his roommate literally dragging him out of bed and down to the cafeteria to get breakfast before it was too late. Rhodey was starting to figure Tony had an automatic switch that flipped on at seven a.m because the younger had nearly fallen asleep in his cereal again and the only thing stopping him was Rhodey pulling the bowl away from his face. He had come into the dorm room somewhere around five in the morning and Rhodey doubted he had even fallen asleep until six with the way his sleeping habits went. There was no way the rest of the school year could go on like this, he’d have to force some sane schedule onto his roommate for both of their sakes, because there was no way he would be able to rebuild his armor, do repairs for the school, and keep up with his courses with an hour of sleep every night.

“Tones, you can’t be dead already, it’s the first day of class and you haven’t even gone to your first class yet. Actually wait, idiot - you brought this on yourself! You were in your lab all night, don’t think I didn’t hear you sneak in this morning. We really need to work on your stealth skills if you’re gonna be pulling this stuff.” He took a swig of his tea, “or maybe not, so I can yell at you during breakfast about not sleeping enough and waking me up."

“Rhodey,” Tony lazily looked at him, fully aware he had screwed the pooch last night. “My sunshine, my honeybear, the light of my life, the mint to my chocolate chip ice cream, the patty to my peanut butter.” He was leaning in close now, cupping Rhodey’s face in his hands as he pulled closer until their foreheads were touching. “I love you, but shut up. I was stressed and I needed to get some air also DUM-E gets lonely,” no part of him had expected to run into Captain America and his edgy sidekick last night and he’d decided a long time ago that he was done with the guy after all of Howard’s endless searches and praises for him and that hadn't exactly put him in the best of moods.

“Well, I hope I’m not interrupting a broment ,” Pepper’s all too sweet voice joined in, her also too sweet self putting a cup of hot coffee down in front of the genius who had been too tired to grab one himself. She sat down, effectively wedging Tony between her and the wall and his response was to simply lean his forehead against her shoulder. She was too good for him, “but I think I came with the magic solution to at least one of your many problems.”

“Oh, Pepper! You’re the best Pepper I have.”

“And hopefully the only?” She replied as he proceeded to chug half of the mug’s contents. “You’re caffeine addiction is out of control and we probably need to have an intervention.”

“Just noticing,” the pilot chuckled into his own cup, eyes darting between the two sitting across from them. “How’s faculty interning, Pep? Is Fury as horrifying as people say?”

“Kinda? All the ladies I shadow don’t really need to talk to him much. He only passes by where I usually work every once in a while and when he does, I stay on his left side, so he doesn’t,” she put a hand over her eye, “see me.”

“I’ll remember that if I ever run into him.”

Tony groaned like his brain had finally turned on, which meant that either the caffeine or his self inflicted placebo effect had kicked in.

“You with us, sleeping beauty?”

“Yeah, but I think you need to kiss me awake, Rhodey. Who invented eight a.m classes anyway and more importantly, why are they on _my_ schedule? Do I look like someone who wakes up early?”

“That implies you actually sleep,” Pepper supplied with a shrug as she started digging into her eggs.

“Where do you get off calling me out? You’re a complete workaholic, like _sleep_ \- do we know _her_ ? Does _she_ go here?”

“She’s a mistress that eludes us all, well except Rhodey, who I’m pretty sure has slept through fire alarms before.”

“Only very quiet fire alarms, also Tony - oh. Uh oh.” His attention was suddenly elsewhere.

The uh oh prompted the engineer to raise his head, eyes trailing to where Rhodey’s gaze was locked. There in the entrance was Steve and his army of followers, really just Bucky and Natasha, but that was enough to make Tony want to get out. He didn’t exactly appreciate Barnes trying to get a look at his hand yesterday when he was clearly trying to hide it from the guy and he really just didn’t want to ever be around Steve after growing up with his dad’s hero worship for him. Maybe ten years ago, he would have been all over this situation. As a kid he had idolized Captain America, but as he got older he realized the man was holding a bar above his head that Tony would never be able to reach and he didn’t think he wanted to reach it either. “Let’s go, guys. I don’t wanna be around Cap’s posse right now. Too early for this shit.”

Pepper scooted out of the booth to let Tony escape and the three quickly made their way to the door. It was probably unfair to judge a group of people while barely knowing anything about them, but as Tony said, it was too early in the morning to consider that junk, so he unhappily glued himself to Rhodey’s side as they walked across campus. Pepper abandoned them to head to the faculty building and the two also eventually split to head in opposite ends of the gymnasium. Tony's first class was a basic self defense class, which meant that no one in his immediate friend group would be in there with him. He was aware that he wasn't the best fighter, it wasn't like he had been training his whole life or blessed with the gift of superpowers, but that didn't mean he still couldn't be bitter about being in a basic course. He was Tony Stark, nothing about him was basic and he sure as hell didn't take non-advanced classes.

 

* * *

 

Locker rooms were Tony’s enemy. They were gross, they were sweaty, they were smelly, dirty, crowded, small, loud, just overall disgusting, full of teenage hormones, and he couldn’t stand them. He thought he’d seen the last of them after the approximate two days he had to spend in middle school before his dad got him out of there, _thank god_. The engineer had basically jumped from middle school to college, so he was fortunate enough to skip out on his physical education until now. He probably should have given some kind of note to the school about his medical conditions. He could have set up dozens of extra disclosure agreements to make sure nothing about his health got leaked, but Tony was stubborn and plus, this was just a basic self defense class and he doubted it could be that bad. The only things the school knew about is conditions were some half baked excuses about always wanting to wear his gauntlet to make him feel safer after his kidnapping. He had a letter from a professional psychiatrist and everything. The arc reactor and prosthetic needed to remain a secret for his own sanity. There was too much that could go wrong with people knowing and he’d rather not be the freak show of the world and have people poking at his chest like he was some lab rat. Everything about him could stay a secret so long as he stayed away from water, no one touched his chest or saw him shirtless, and he never made a big enough scene with his arm to have it questioned.

“Tony?”

“Rhodey?” Tony had just been about to rip off his sweatshirt as his friend placed a hand on his shoulder, “why are you here, this is level 100 course?”

“Not in your class, just unlucky enough to share the same locker room. Just a heads up, but Barnes _is_ in your class, he shouldn’t be for more than a few weeks though. Dude’s in an accelerated program cause Shield wanted to see where his skill set stands.”

“Why are you talking to my enemies?” He feigned anger at him, “I thought you were on my team! Traitor. ”

“I don’t have to hate the people you do, especially one who apologized and kinda seems like a cool guy. I’m kinda in a rush though, but I’ll catch you after class.” He grinned in return, slamming his locker door before darting off. The engineer would count that as a small win if anything. A sigh and he peeled off his sweater and threw on another plain black shirt over the one he was wearing, just to be sure the arc reactor’s glow or protruding shape wouldn’t be noticeable.

He fled into the gym with the rest of the stragglers while keeping tabs on everyone who was in there. Janet van Dyne stood ever so confidently in the corner by someone wearing a red shirt who he could only guess to be Stephen Strange who Tony could tolerate if he looked past his hocus pocus. Everyone else in the class was determined not to be a science buff or not interesting enough to warrant his attention, so Tony strolled over to their antisocial corner in hopes of making some allies before the session started. There were a lot of things to take in, one of them being he was quite possibly one of two individuals without powers there and he couldn’t really decide how that made him feel. It didn’t make him feel weak or scared, if anything it made him want to kick anyone’s ass who would think that way - but at the same time he kind of knew without the suit, he could only do so much. Heart conditions were fun.

“Tony!” Janet seemed elated that he joined them, “I didn’t know you’d be in this class! Thank gosh, I thought Stephey here and I would be the only science nerds in this joint. Just between all of us, coach what’s-his-name is apparently a real jerk, Fury’s been on the fence about getting rid of him lately, so be prepared for like the _absolute_ worst. Anyway, I didn’t see you after you got settled in, did moving go okay? How’s James?”

“He’s good and it was fine. We’re three floors up and one door away from a national icon too.” He scoffed and let his focus drift over to Stephen who was messing with something he had summoned from thin air, “Strange, right? Don’t think we’ve met yet, but I’ve heard of you. You were a medical prodigy.”

“ _Still_ a medical prodigy actually, I have a double focus in magic and medical and I’ve read some of your work before. I always like meeting people in my age range who lead scientific revolutions.” Stephen offered a hand to Tony who gladly shook it, “I hope Shield hasn’t pushed their brawn over brains tactic on you too? I had to make it an ultimatum before accepting that I be allowed to study in both fields. Jackasses.”

“Not at all, I’m actually one of their main finites when it comes to repairs and tech upgrades, AKA, you’ll be coming to me a lot when your equipment breaks down. Which it will, cause the stuff here is sucks balls.” He would have said more had their instructor just not stepped in with his overbearing presence that practically just screamed ‘shut up and listen to me, shrimps!’ The man must have said something while Tony was analyzing him because suddenly everyone was lining up against the wall and Tony quickly followed in suit, still studying their teacher who he couldn’t quite remember the name of. He was tall and bald though, so that’s what the genius decided to mentally dub him. And he hadn’t named him a moment too soon because Tall n’ Bald was suddenly in his face like personal bubbles or bad breath didn’t exist.

“Are you listening to me, Stark?” He demanded in a more passive aggressive tone than anything else. Tony could see why Fury was on the fence about the guy now and if what Janet said was the truth about his lovely personality, it would be best not to piss him off.

“Not really, no.” Oops. It was almost a natural defense mechanism to be snarky. “Should I have been?” His two new friends were making cut throat gestures with their hands, practically begging him to shut up. Maybe he should have listened, that probably would have been best.

“Since you’re such a confident guy, how about you step into the ring first and show the class what you got?” His smile definitely did not reach his eyes and if Tall n’ Bald wasn’t a teacher, he would have guessed there was a gun behind his back where his hands were folded.

“No thanks. Don’t really want to.” The entire class was practically gawking at him, he could see Barnes staring at him with a blank expression in the corner of his vision.

“Don’t want to or _can’t_? You’re lucky the board granted you your gauntlet there, this is a no weapons class and you-”

“It’s not a weapon,” He grit out, barely certain the words were audible, but they were apparently loud enough for the teacher.

“Then why wear it, kid?”

There was plenty he had left to say, but for some reason, he really just felt like walking straight out of there without dignifying the man a response. So, that’s what he did. Not even fifteen minutes into class and Tony was already in danger of being reprimanded. How fantastic, this school was truly an amazing place full of super powered kids and psycho adults. He went back into the locker room to gather all his stuff before racing out, maybe he could bribe Pepper into changing his schedule for him later, but right now the only thing on his mind was locking himself in his lab and working on the suit and whatever else there was.

 

* * *

 

The teen buried himself in Project ICSB first, it started out as a fun hobby, but the more challenging it got - the more invested Tony became. The challenge was making thrusters that were smaller but more powerful than his suit’s and more quiet wouldn’t hurt anyone either. Stabilizing it also proved to be a problem, it needed to be able to hover on it's own without pressure on top of it. He had been trashing some holographic blueprints when someone knocked on his door, JARVIS announced that it was Doctor Strange and not being in the mood to care about hospitality, Tony yelled for him to come in. What he wasn’t expecting was for him to waltz into his lab with only pajamas on and two steaming cups full of some ominous liquid in hand.

“You’re never going to guess what happened,” the sorcerer levitated a cup to Tony’s table as he perched on one of the few empty counter tops. “Coach got a little mad a student told him off and worked us all half to death.”

“So you’ve come here to poison me to enact revenge on behalf of everybody?” He raised a brow and tentatively picked up the teacup, “because that’s fair.”

“Not really. I think sixteen hours is enough time for them to get over it.”

“Sixteen hours!” Tony couldn’t hide his shock, it wasn’t rare that time slipped by him in his labs, but he had kind of meant to go to his other courses later and he felt stupid for missing them.

“Tony, it is one in the morning. I only came by because I got a notification that someone tried opening my lab door, which I’m just going to guess was you because you look exhausted and probably couldn’t tell the difference between a wrench and a nail gun.”

“Jokes on you, I don’t need any of those things right now!”

“Stark.”

“ _Strange._ ”

‘We are not doing this,” he took a sip of his tea, and gestured for Tony to do the same. “Drink, it’s good for you. Chamomile tea helps me sleep and I figured you could use some too.”

“Why?” The engineer simply stared at his cup before forcing himself to drink about half of it, sitting down at the table across from Stephen to signal he was giving up on tinkering for the night.

“Figured you might have had a stressful day after storming out of class, your energy felt stressed and wary. Not invading your privacy, auras are something I always feel.”

“Honey, that’s just my overall personality.” The two finished their drinks in a comfortable silence and JARVIS sneakily saved and shut down his open files. “And thanks for the tea, I guess. I just have a lot of things to work on and I didn’t mean to try to open your lab door, I had to go whiz and got a little turned around. Hey, any idea who’s on the other side of me?”

“Bruce Banner, but he hasn’t moved all his equipment in there yet. Apparently, chemistry is a fragile process. And Tony, surely your projects can wait until the weekend, it’d be best to not miss your first week of classes.” Stephen was starting to sound too much like Rhodey and that was definitely his cue to leave.

“Probably. Listen, I’m gonna head back to the dorms now so you can go back to whatever culty shit you were doing before coming here.”

“I was sleeping and goodnight, Tony.”

“See ya, Gandalf.” With that, the sorcerer vanished from his perch. Tony packed his bag before heading out the door, the crisp night air was refreshing as his lab often got stuffy easily and he noted the ventilation was also something he would need to work on. He’d say he got half way across campus before yet another person decided he needed help that night and came up to him.

“You lost?” The sky was clouded which led to low visibility, so the stranger came to him in a dark silhouette with no distinguishable features and if Tony hadn’t been on campus, he most likely would have hit the guy and ran. He was wearing something similar to a fancy security guard getup, but judging by his voice and build, he was more than likely another student at the academy. “You’re just a little bit on my team’s scrimmage battle field right now.”

“Oops? I was just leaving the labs - I didn’t know any team’s would be practicing this early in the year. I have a real talent for getting in the way.”

“The Strike team practices year around, I’m Brock Rumlow by the way.”

“Tony Stark, and good talk - but I kinda need to get to my room before my friend kills me. I have a physics class in the a.m and all.”

“I understand, hey if you ever need anything, here’s my number.” Brock handed him a an honest to god business card that Tony ungracefully shoved in his pocket. Who just carried those things things around?

“Thanks,” a flash of silver flickered out of the corner of his vision, probably a sign that he needed to leave. He had definitely spent to much time halting the Strike Team’s workout anyway.

 

And just maybe he could sneak past Rhodey this time.


	3. stay for tea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bucky plays uno. tony invents a hoverboard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i’m still quite new to writing, but this chapter might be the first thing i’ve posted that i don't like

“I have a problem.” That was a lie, Bucky had many problems and they ranged from being a mass murderer to having crushes on stupid boys. He sat up from his bed and Steve was over in an instant in concern for his friend. He sat down next him and Bucky was struck with an odd sense of familiarity to the scene, like they’d been in this position before and he just couldn’t remember it. He couldn’t remember a lot of things, but Steve would always tell him stories about when they were kids, it never felt real though. Sometimes he felt like he was just taking ‘Bucky’s’ name because so little of who he used to be had remained, but Bucky was somehow still his name. And Steve somehow still hadn't given up on him.

“Is there something wrong?” That was almost like asking a dead dog if it was dead, yes, there was something wrong. He was a weapon against his will for the people he and his best friend hated most in the world, he missed his parents dying, missed all the messes Steve had gotten himself into, he didn’t get to grow up like everyone else and now he was going to have to watch his sisters die before him and -- maybe that was looking too far down the timeline. His current problems were as so: liking a boy Steve kind of wanted to adopt in some weird way, having said boy hate both of them and wanting to kill three of his teachers. Just some classic “Steve and Bucky Issues.”

“Not really,” Bucky just groaned and lifted himself from the mattress. Steve took that as his cue to get up and stretched out his arms as he stood, leaving him wondering how anyone could be so human before nine a.m.

The teen must have been silent for too long because the blonde got a look of concern on his face again, “Buck?”

“... I.” 

“What is it?”

“... I … like someone.” He whispered like it was the most horrifying thing in the world and in some ways, it actually was.

“No, that’s great! You usually hate people!”

“No. I like someone!”

“Yeah, I like a lot of people? This isn’t a bad thing, why are you acting like it is?” He placed a hand on a Bucky’s shoulder with his signature grin, “I’m just glad you made a friend.”

He had a feeling Steve would be disappointed real soon. “He’s … not my friend.”

“But -- what?” The world was lucky it never got to see this side of the super soldiers, moments like these were evidence that they weren’t gods among men and heaven forbid that perception of them be skewed.

“Stevie,” Bucky then placed his own hands on the other, locking them at the shoulders. “I’m interested in a fella. I want his dick." 

“What!”

“My filter didn’t work again.”

“Bucky!”

“Stevie?”

“Why would you tell me that!” There was a panic settling in him, was his best friend homophobic? How could he have known him for so long and never know that?

“Are you … mad that I’m interested in a guy .” The Winter Soldier was dead, but he’d left a few gifts behind, one of them being the glare Bucky was sporting. He was not afraid to beat some sense into his friend. Steve didn’t exactly come off as prejudice, he was more like a model citizen; he tried to help everyone, he saw the best in the worst of people, and hell, he’s even seen the guy kiss a baby before. He couldn’t be that much of a jerk, right?

“No! Oh, golly - no! I just … you just told me that … aloud. You know I’m bad at this!” And that he was, Bucky could recall Steve having exactly one dame on his arm during their friendship, he eventually said something that had evolved into a less than savory comment with time and she slapped him before walking away. That story also prompted a lecture on language evolution once Bucky was treated. “You know I don’t care who you like. Wait no, I mean I do! I mean, you know I don’t care … about … you’re my best friend, Bucky. I support you no matter what but believe me when I say, I’ve never had a problem with anyones … sexuality. Uh … who is it though?” The Captain America grin was back and fighting the Winter Soldier’s glare.

Bucky stood up and threw on a t-shirt, he was beyond ready for this conversation to be over and even more ready to bolt. “Tony.” He knew what reaction to expect.

“Howard’s kid! You can’t!”

“Too late.” Too late was the second he saw Tony standing in the hallway with wet and curly hair. What could he say, he was weak for a bit of spunk. And small brunettes wearing oversized sweaters. With cute brown eyes that were flecked with gold. He was just weak for Tony. He remembered the morning he learned that his crush was in his gym class, it took all the willpower he had not to go over and punch the gym teacher out. There were exactly two things stopping him: Tony looking like he had complete control of the situation and the fact Bucky was at this school under very strict guidelines, which included an emphasis on non-physical altercations. The former assassin kicked on his shoes and darted out the door, he mentally marked the thirty seconds he had to get out of there, Steve was still only in his boxers which meant he had until the guy had finished putting on real clothes (which wouldn’t take long) to get out of the building and lost among the campus crowd. They’d talk about it later,  just not now. It took exactly twenty-two seconds to run from the dorms to upper campus. It took exactly ten seconds after that to spot Tony talking to another student, and it took half a minute to realize Natasha was behind him and sipping something that he guessed to be coffee.

“Are you stalking Stark?” She tilted her head to the side, red hair from her ponytail spilling down her shoulder. She didn’t miss a beat before her black lips curled into a small grin. “You’re stalking Stark. Starking.”

“Am not,” that was a weak argument for a super spy, but it was the only one had had. The girl then pulled him at the elbow behind a tree and he couldn’t help but just stumble along, “I am. I’m Starking.”

“Why?” Nat had probably already got a read on him and was just humoring his closed-off personality, “because of last night? That was a mess-”

“How do you know about last night-”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“I’m always worrying.”

“He’s talking to Brock Rumlow,” she quickly supplied to change the topic. She also said it as if the name Rumlow meant anything to him as if he knew people at this place aside from her, Steve, and their angry dorm neighbors. “I don’t like him.”

“Tony or Rumlow?”

“Rumlow.”

Bucky’s eyes narrowed quickly and looked back at Tony who seemed relaxed in front of the bigger of the two. Brock was standing there with a gym back slung over his shoulder and his free hand was making gestures of some kind (Bucky couldn’t decipher if it was code or not.) Then Tony laughed! The bastard made him laugh, like a real genuine laugh - he threw his head back and everything! “Why?”

“Didn’t want me on his stupid Strike Team,” now that was a fun fact, Natasha tried out of the Strike Team and didn’t make it. She didn’t not make anything, the girl was one of the best physical fighters at the academy plus, she also came with the added bonus of super spy skills and the team could have really benefited her.

“Why did you try out?”

“The better question is, why didn’t they want me.”

“You saying they’re hiding something?”

“I’m not saying anything,” she stopped Bucky before he got another word in, “but, I’m not _not_ saying anything either. I think maybe he’s a little weird, but so are you, Barnes. We all might be hiding things, but that doesn’t make us bad people. I  also think he’s tall, cute, and charming. Best of all, legal. So you might wanna get off your ass now if you want your boy.” Blue eyes followed to the couple ahead of them, Tony was adjusting his bag as he turned away while Rumlow stared for a second longer than he would have liked and gone in his own direction. It was unsurprising that when he went to say something to Natasha again, she was gone.

Fucking super spies.

Classes that day were uneventful, there were real-world application math, (as opposed to the fake world, of course) weapons dismantling, and another physical training course. The next day was even worse, he didn’t catch sight of Tony in basic self-defense at all, but he guessed he had just switched instructors to avoid more conflict. His last course was on and off-field battle tactics and after that Bucky had just wanted to collapse in his bed, but Clint Barton had caught him halfway up the staircase and forced him to sit through a game of cards. It started out with just him and the archer at first, but new people casually made their way over throughout the night. The first one was Thor who loudly claimed his chair at the table before launching himself into it, Clint taught him how to play blackjack and time quickly moved from there. Somehow they’d also acquired Natasha, some kid named Sam Wilson, another genius named Bruce Banner, and Steve. Because Steve was always with Bucky. He kind of wanted to die. After realizing barely anyone knew how to play real cards, Clint ran back to his dorm and grabbed a deck of Uno cards which he claimed to be the simplest game imaginable besides Tag.

“Proposition, if Thor loses this next round, I get to hold his magical hammer.” Clint dropped a ‘draw four’ and Bruce groaned next to him.

“Shouldn’t you ask him on a date first?” Sam countered drawing another card from the deck after Bruce.

“Why would Clinton need to take me on a date to wield my hammer? Food does not tempt it.”

“You’d be surprised.” Natasha shrugged and Bucky couldn’t help the smile that cracked his lips while Steve cleared his throat.

“Remind me to never play Twister with you guys,” it was Clint’s turn again and he changed the color to yellow. “You’re all the worst.”

“But we’re all so bendy.” Sam supplied while definitely not trying to cheat off of Steve.

“I’m not,” Bruce added.

It was an amusing conversation that also struck Bucky as familiar. There was something about setting up camp with his troop and settling down with a deck of cards crawling in his thoughts, but it never revealed itself fully. It was just a feeling, happiness and hopelessness at once. It was his turn to play, but more of him felt like he needed to get outside. Instead of laying down a card, he threw his small collection them at Natasha, “I need to whiz. Play for me, Nat.” The former assassin stood up from his spot, fully ready to accept that she was going to ruin his hand for him. Steve was sputtering something about using the word bathroom that he ignored in favor of making his way down the hall. “Don’t wait up for me.”

“Wasn’t gonna!” Clint shouted back.

It was nice to not be coddled for once, Clint and Thor didn’t seem to have any regards of boundaries and whether it was because they didn't care or didn’t know about Bucky’s past, he didn't know. He just appreciated it, but even still, he could only handle so many social interactions and craved a breath of fresh air. The feeling of hopelessness was still lingering in the forefront of his mind.

There was also  - wait.

Holy shit.

What did he just see out the window?

There was nothing there now, but he would have sworn haw saw something fly by, Bucky quickly reached down to pull a knife from his shoe before stepping out the door. They’d been on the second floor so he vaulted himself off the balcony without much hesitation and followed the direction of the … unidentified flying object. He must have not noticed how late it was, the campus was completely dead and the moon was at its full height, stupid Clint and his card games. The silence around him was broken by a faint whirring sound which felt like a relief because he was starting to suspect he’d gone insane. The source of the sound led him to mid-campus between the main training facility and science labs and he wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad sign, there was nothing outside so what was that sound? Maybe he's going crazy theory was correct, Bucky turned to leave when he spotted a figure on top of the roof. A familiar, cute, small, and very vulnerable figure who just threw himself off said roof and with a burst of panic, Bucky raced to meet Tony at the ground.

Fuck!

 

 

“Hey, JARVIS! You think this thing is ready for a real test flight?”

“Sir, would you not count your previous trial runs with it real test runs?” The A.I replied somehow sounding annoyed.

“Nope,” Tony flipped over the red and gold hoverboard in his hands. His original intent when coming to the academy was to spend every free moment he had rebuilding the Iron Man suit, but somehow he’d found himself freeing his busy moments to work on Project ICSB instead and it was almost hard to believe it was actually done. He guessed it just felt nice to step away from the suit for a while and build something else that meant a lot to him and just enjoy himself. “Think I’m gonna head up to the roof, we gotta fire exit?”

“Unfortunately so.”

“Thanks, J! Do me a favor and tuck DUM-E in,” the bot beeped in protest. “Don’t use that language with me, mister!” Tony laughed and slammed the door to his lab shut, wasting no time as he found the staircase and dashed up to the roof. Now, he was many things: an heir to a multi-million dollar company, a genius, a superhero, a flirt, a friend, many people’s enemy, but most of -- he was crazy. And not the fun crazy, he was more like the type of crazy person that would fist fight a villain twice his size with nothing on him but a butter knife. Tony was pretty sure this fact was backed by his self-destructive complex and lack of self-preservation. So maybe all that would explain why he found it reasonable to stand on the very edge of a two-story building with nothing but a prototype device with him. But this is where the genius part came in, Tony would have never done this with anyone else’s tech, he just trusted his design enough to risk a few broken bones. Objects capable of flight came easily to him after building so many Iron Man armors, so the hoverboard hadn’t come across as particularly troubling to build. Tony ran a hand across the gold lines circling the engines, it was still warm from his previous tests and he was anxious to use it out in the open world. The results he got inside were better than expected; the thrusters were completely functional and strong enough to carry his body weight plus an extra nine-hundred pounds (for the force of impact) and he had sustained flight on it for more than twenty minutes at various heights.

The first time he flew his armor, he was in the desert in the definition of a ‘ride or die’ situation and it felt good to know he would never be that helpless again. The suit, the hoverboard, his friends, and this school were testaments to that. Tony laid the board at his feet and turned it on before shoving it off the edge, a second passed and then he dove after that. He briefly wondered if this was a bad idea (it was) before the board was back under his feet with the ground getting further away “Oh my god! Oh my god!” He was flying without the armor! This shouldn’t have been as surprising as it was, the teen had just been doing that in the lab no more than twenty minutes ago, but it felt so liberating now. Tony pulled a tight turn around one of the smaller structures and leaned back to raise his height a little more. The wind brushed past him with a feeling of lightness that he’d never felt before, though he somewhat regretted not putting on a helmet or goggles as his hair whipped against his skin. Flying in the suit was one thing, he was always encased in metal and distanced from the world around him, but this was something else entirely. He was free.

Tony wouldn’t claim to be the most graceful person in the world and the realization that he should have also put a locking mechanism under his shoes really struck him as he went to round another corner and turned too sharply. The board slipped from under him and he found himself free-falling over thirty feet to the ground. Again, he’d been prepared for a few injuries when he came out and he was ready to have a friendly reunion with the field. The stars once within his grasp fell further from him.

That sucked.

The hero was more than surprised when he was practically tackled midair and had the air knocked out of him by another body before throwing them to the ground. Brown eyes clamped shut as they slammed into the grass and he only dared open them when the arms encircling him didn’t let go. The two laid huddled to each other, their heavy breathing filling the air around him. Tony's face was buried into the chest of a stranger and he couldn't help but wonder if this was how he was going to die, smothered to death via someone's pecs. Tony gathered his thoughts and pushed away from his savior while getting into a kneeling position, readying himself for a fight. He didn’t anything on him (not even a butter knife) but held his fists up as the other sat up too, “Wait, Barnes? ”

“Tony--”

“What the hell was that!”

“You fell--”

“You’re spying on me!”

“No--”

“Who sent you,” the genius stood up to his full height and got into the other’s face, “I swear to god, you do not want to mess with me.”

Bucky had no option but to raise his hands in a sign of peace and took a few steps backward as Tony closed the distance between them. “I wasn’t spying on you, I swear. I was just out for a walk.”

“Bullshit, it’s two in the morning.”

“Clint forced me to play cards with him and his pals, I lost track of time.”

The smaller teen sighed, running a hand through his hair as he watched for anything Bucky might do. Buck felt oddly like Tony was studying him, eyes looking at something that even he couldn’t see. The soldier stilled when Tony did and that had somehow made him feel even more anxious, he gestured for him to continue.

“I just wanted to … breathe.” Bucky must have noticed him relax as his shoulders sagged to their normal posture. “I think you know Natasha or somethin’, she was there too. But there were too many people and I was thinking too much and I needed to get out of there and then I thought I saw something fly by the window and there was this sound or somethin’ and I followed it here and I thought you were gonna jump off the roof without your hoo-ha, so I stayed. And I was gonna leave, I swear! But then you…”

“I fell.”

“Yeah.”

A minute passed.

“Well,” Tony shifted his gaze and turned on his heel, “come back to the lab with me. I’m quite used to weirdos coming in at the wee hours of the morning and one more won’t bug me much.”

“What about your … board?”

“It’s programmed to come back to the lab if it doesn’t have over ninety pounds of pressure on it for over fifteen minutes and no one’s out this late besides you, so it won’t do any damage.”

Bucky was helpless to follow. “Were you leaving campus?” It wasn’t any of his business to ask, but curiosity had gotten the better of him. Tony was wearing something similar to photos of the flight suit he’d seen on television before, except the sleeves on this one ended before his shoulders and was pure black with cyan blue designs decorating it, they nearly gave him the effect of glowing in the dark. Bucky made another note of the gauntlet still on his left arm. “You’re kinda dressed like it.”

“Nope! Just like being prepared, Barnes.” Tony held his unarmored hand for the scanner and made sure the door stayed open for him as he passed through. “New suit, thought I’d test it out -- you like it?”

God, he loved it.

“Doesn’t offer much in terms of protection and it’s not baggy enough conceal weapons.”

“It goes under gold-titanium alloy armor and I don’t need weapons on me when I’m practically inside one.” Tony countered as he grabbed the pseudo shorts that laid above the bottom half of his suit, “and this is plenty loose. But anyway, I didn’t exactly ask for an actual critique, so what else you got? What’s up in the land of patriotism and justice?” He reached for an oddly placed tea kettle which was sitting on some metal contraption over a bunsen burner. A flame flicked on beneath it and the whistling of the small fire filled the emptiness between them. "Talk to me.”

“You hate me,” Bucky stated in more shock than anything else. “Why did you invite me in?”

“Eh. A wizard told me to in a dream.” The genius was playing at something and Bucky couldn’t tell what it was, he had a feeling even Natasha would be confused by him. It kind of seemed the only person who would fully understand Tony was Tony and probably Rhodey too. The kettle itself also let out a scream and the engineer plucked it off its burner, "get me some cups, first drawer, table by the couch." Bucky nodded and stood up to find them without giving much else as a response. Tony took the mugs handed to him and poured the tea into them, just staring thoughtfully for a second before handing the other his drink. “I don’t sleep a lot.”

“What.”

“I don’t sleep a lot. Me in the bed nightly doesn’t happen. It hasn’t since Afghanistan, which I’m not gonna talk about cause I’m sure you know just like everyone-fucking-else. Or maybe it started before that. Too much to do, too much to fix and all that junk, yeah? You can’t help yourself or anyone else in your sleep, you’re vulnerable to everything you avoid while you’re awake.”

“I. What? What does that-”

“You, Barnes, look like a man who doesn’t sleep. Now drink that leaf water, it’s chamomile.”

“I mean, I don’t. But what does that have … what are you doing?”

“I’m not doing anything, jeez. I’m not a complete dick and don’t worry, it's not poison, I just -- I have a friend who likes to remind me some burdens shouldn’t be carried alone. Not asking you to tell me them or anything, but you might sleep better if you get them out there.”

“Have you? I mean, have you put em’ out there?” Bucky would count this as one of the weirdest conversations he’s ever had, he didn’t dash out of the dormitory with the intent of having a heart-to-heart with Tony Stark at two in the morning. He watched as the other man planted down on a stool and turned off the small flame heating the tea kettle.

“Eh,” he shrugged. “Not telling.”

“What if I tell you?”

“Huh,” it was Tony’s turn to be caught off guard, was he about to play therapist to Steve Rogers’ sidekick?

“If I told you why I can’t sleep, would you tell me?” The soldier made a grimace and emptied his entire cup of tea. It tasted like shit, but Tony had offered it and it would be rude to not finish it all.

“Why?” The engineer questioned and sauntered over to his robot, giving it a tap as the thing beeped back to life from its sleep mode. Bucky had apparently hidden his flinch effectively because Tony didn’t make a comment about it, the thing rolled over to where he was sitting and gently prodded him with its one arm.

Bucky just shrugged, trying to not pay attention to it and failed when he gave it a pat on its ‘head’. “Cause I’m not a total dick either.”

“Tomorrow How about that?” Sue him, so maybe Tony felt a little guilty about being a jerk to a guy who clearly had enough issues of his own already. He’s been in Bucky’s place before (not exactly) and could at least try to be nicer to him. “It’s late or early depending on how fucked your perspective is, so in the spirit of not hating each other and a favor in return for you making sure I didn’t break my collarbone, I’ll let you crash on my couch tonight. I have an odd feeling captain-no-fun would give you an earful for coming home so late.”

“You trust me?”

“Not really,” DUM-E beeped once more, “but that’s why he’s here. That’s DUM-E and he is very dangerous with a fire extinguisher, so you can stay here, but if you try anything -- he will eviscerate you. Capiche?”

“Capiched.” Bucky nodded.

“That’s … not. Whatever.” They both tensed as something heavy slammed into the lab’s door, Tony walking over and snatching his hoverboard out of the air before turning it off. “Baby came back in one piece and early too!”

It suddenly started to feel like Bucky was invading someone’s home rather than their lab, “uh? Wait?”

“What?” The teen in question put the deactivated board onto one of the tables, jumping onto the end of his beaten up sofa where he pushed down half of it into a reclining position, “spit it out, I need at least two hours of beauty sleep and have only four left to get it.”

“I, nevermind. Are you sure this is fine? I can just go back to my room.”

“Shut it, flag boy.” Bucky sat as far as he could from the other in defeat, they’d probably both regret sleeping like that tomorrow, but for now, Bucky was content.

“Thanks,” but he didn’t get a reply as somehow Tony had already fallen asleep.

Some several hours later, Rhodey entered the lab and was torn between telling Steve he’d found his missing roommate and letting the two rest. Somehow walking into Bucky and Tony crammed onto an old futon together wasn’t that shocking to him. He snapped a picture with his phone and left the lab happy with his blackmail. Tony had been belly up on the couch with Bucky draped over the lower half of his body with his head resting on Tony’s abdomen. Bucky’s legs dangled over the sofa arms and Tony’s real arm was laid over Bucky’s neck in some creepy/comfortable fashion. Sunlight from one of the only windows bled onto their faces in a streak of warm yellow and Rhodey had to admit it was a pretty cute picture.


	4. tony stark doesn't stalk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i proof read this once and only once

It wasn’t creepy that Tony knew Bucky’s schedule, it wasn’t creepy that Tony knew he got out at six, two hours before him and had no classes on Friday … but had one Saturday morning. It also wasn’t creepy that he knew where his last class was and where to meet him when he got out.

Maybe it was a little creepy.

But only if crashing into the school’s database to find it was considered creepy. Then again, he kind of did that to all his friends (except Rhodey, who blessedly had his schedule pinned on the wall).

Was he creepy?

These were important questions to ask yourself in theoretical chemistry, if you didn’t care for the class, of course. Which, surprise! Tony didn’t. He was more concerned with the fact he was trying to befriend Barnes after telling himself he hated the guy and his plus one for two days, well, he still kind of hated his plus one. It was probably just his stupid and depressing face when he body slammed him into the ground, he looked lost and like he wasn’t quite sure what just happened and couldn’t believe it either. And as it turned out, Tony Stark wasn’t one to turn down doe-eyed boys covered in wet grass at two in the morning.

Tony was someone people considered “emotionally stunted” and “bad at reading people” and “an oblivious fucking idiot,” but he still could see when someone was fucked over. And James Barnes was certainly _fucked_. He’d read that he was captured by Hydra on a covert mission with Steve and his brigade doing god-knows-what, been brainwashed more times than anyone would ever guess, was stripped of his humanity, and didn’t even think of himself as a person. It’d only been a year since that happened and Barnes was still here. Also his arm. He lost his arm.

Tony put his pencil down, idling observing his red metallic fingers jutting out from his sleeve.

Bucky didn’t hide his prosthetic.

Tony was kind of jealous of how … strong? Comfortable? Confident? He was jealous of whatever Barnes had that made him so unafraid.

He glanced to his side, Bruce met his gaze for a second before flicking it back over to the professor in some indication that he should be paying attention. Tony just stuck his tongue out in response, shoving at his shoulder at just the right moment because the professor turned around with an unimpressed look.

“Mr. Stark? Is there a reason why you’re bothering Mr. Banner?”

“Miss, he really wasn’t bothering me at all-”

“Cause your class is boring and the back of your head isn’t as good lookin’ as you think it is.” Tony cut him off. “If I wanted someone to lecture me for two hours while not bothering to even pay attention to me, I’d go to my dad.”

Oh.

Why did that leave his mouth?

The professor out of pity (or annoyance) went back to the whiteboard and continued with her talk as if he hadn’t said a word and it was probably for the better that way.

“Sorry, man.”

“You’re good, B. My bad.”

“Do you … want me to text you the notes?”

“Yeah.” God bless Bruce Banner, “I so wanna leave right now.”

“Can’t blame you, just try to talk back less.”

“No promises there,” the engineer got up from his seat and got out of the room as discreetly as someone sitting directly in the center front row could. He couldn’t bring himself to feel too guilty about it, there had only been like fifteen minutes of class left and now he had more time to get to the other side of campus to surprise (and not creepily) surprise Barnes.

Thursdays weren’t exactly safe though, Rhodey would be in the same building as Barnes and he’d somehow have to avoid him because if there was one thing Rhodey was so not getting, it was the satisfaction of knowing he was right. Partially right, Tony reminded himself. He still wasn’t a fan of big, buff and blonde.

“Hey.”

Fuck! Tony whipped around with his prosthetic hand forward, held up to casually cover his chest in a fighting stance.

“Wow.” Natasha drawled.

Of course. Of course it was the Black Widow.

She huffed a lock of her hair away, not at all phased by his hostility.

“Can I help you?” He shifted his position, quickly looking to the building's entrance beyond her. “Kinda busy.”

“Waiting for Barnes?”

“For my roommate,” Tony falsely corrected.

“I’m in his last class, we got out early.” He wanted to throw out another excuse, but Natasha started digging through her bag and handed him a candy. Which he found himself just staring at, looking back at her, and staring at again. “Lollipop?” The spy got one out for herself as well. “It’s not poison.”

“Bummer.” A hesitation and Tony plucked it from her palm. “Y’know, last I checked. We weren’t at the food sharing friendship level. Or like … friends at all.”

“Yeah, but I’m friends with the guy you’re stalking.”

“I’m not stalking him!” He sighed and shot her an unamused look. “Okay! Maybe I am … but he did it first!” She was doing that face again. “He showed up my lab last night! And I said we could talk more today … but like I didn’t tell him where or when! Cause he spent the night in there too cause I didn’t want Rogers to hound him for being out at two in the morning like I know he would! So like, this is me trying to be a good samaritan, so don’t worry I’m not planning to take out Cap’s right-hand man or anything … that makes sense. Yeah, I’m just here to keep good on my word, I have a reputation to keep and all that.”

“Sure, Stark. But I am not here to defend Bucky’s honor or anything -- he can snap you like a toothpick -- I actually came by to give you a heads up.”

“For?”

“Rumlow.”

“What … about?” Tony quirked a brow, popping the sucker into his mouth (it didn't taste like poison) as he glanced towards the entrance one more time. The guy couldn’t want to kill him already! They’d only just met and he would have counted their brief interaction as a good one. “Did Fury send you to guard me? I don’t know what I did, but I assure you, I can handle it.”

He swore he heard her eyes roll behind her sunglasses.

“Rest assured, I don’t even want to guard you against what he wants. I just wanted to give a friendly reminder that he has his eyes on the prize.”

“I had a conversation with your boy, Clint, the other day and it went a lot like this. I don’t like spies and their riddles. You lot need a social etiquette class.”

“But that’s what makes us so fun. By the way, I think class just got out.” She pushed his head to the side, a few students tricking out of the hall and unsurprisingly when he went to reply to her, she was gone.

_Fucking. Superspies._

“Tony!”

“Huh?” Tony turned around, somewhat surprised to see Brock behind him. Which honestly just made what happened with Natasha all the more creepy. Was it S _neak Up and Give Tony Stark a Heart Attack_ day or something, he might punch the next person to try something. Rumlow didn't look hostile or anything, so he could probably rule out his immediate murder on the things to look out for. “What?”

“Nothin’. Saw you weren’t looking too busy and figured you could use a partner.”

“Partner in _what_ , I’m just waiting for someone.”

“Partner in waiting then, sorry if I scared you during our training exercise last night. I was in a rush to get things moving. Hope none of the guys bothered you, it can get kinda intense out there." 

“Mm-hm.” Tony just nodded. It sounded like the other was beating around the bush with something, but he barely just met the guy, so what the hell could he be afraid of? And where the hell was Barnes; this building had one fucking exit! “Yeah.”

“So, coffee? I’m free tonight.” Pause, the genius was pretty sure he didn’t agree to anything. “Around eight sound good to you?” Brock was typing something down on his phone as Tony stood there in silence. It would probably be considered both extremely rude and awkward to turn down someone you accidentally agreed to go on a coffee date (?) with, so he hummed in agreement.

“Uh, sure? I don’t have class tomorrow.”

“Great, well I don’t wanna keep you waiting, also I think your friend just stepped out.” And sure enough, there was Bucky stalking towards them while wearing a blank expression. “See you tonight, Tony!”

“What. Just. Happened.” Tony stood shell-shocked as Bucky looked at him confused.

“Rumlow say somethin’?”

“He asked me out on a date tonight and I accidentally said yes.” He started off in the direction of their dorm building knowing the soldier would follow. “I think.”

“If you don’t wanna go you can just say no, or I could beat him up at wrestling. Except coach would reprimand me for that and m’ trying to get on his good side.”

“How is _Bucky Barnes_ on anyone’s bad side?”

“Bucky Barnes has murdered hundreds of people, in case you forgot.”

“I didn’t -- I’ve just been ignoring it for your sake. When’s wrestling anyway?” Because it wasn’t on his schedule!

“I got ‘bout an hour.” He shrugged. “Steve’s out right now if you wanna hang out for a bit.”

“I’ll take you up on that, but you’re gonna have to deal with the whirlwind of Janet and Pepper.”

“Why?” Bucky held the door open to the main lounge, definitely not keeping his eyes on Tony’s back side longer than he needed to.

“Just texted them I have a date and according to them, I’m a human fashion disaster. Hey, you want my number?” Tony asked as the elevator doors shut them. “Since we’re neighbors and all. You can text me if you get locked outside in your underwear or something.”

“The hell would I be outside naked for?”

“Good question, guess we’ll find out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my tumblr can be found here at [pondghost.tumblr.com](http://pondghost.tumblr.com) where i also sometimes do things that pertain to the stories on ao3 and sometimes not

**Author's Note:**

> whoops
> 
> my tumblr can be found here at [pondghost.tumblr.com](http://pondghost.tumblr.com) where i also sometimes do things that pertain to the stories on ao3 and sometimes not


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